Picture-exhibitor



(NO Model.)

G. W. BROWN. PICTURE EXHIBITOR.

Patented Apr. 27, 1897.

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//V VEN r012 A TTORNEYS' WITNESSES mans cc.. mom-Limo" wml GEORGE XV. BROWVN, OF COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO.

PICTURE-EXHIBITOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 581,651, dated April 27, 1897. Application filed February 1, 1896. Serial No. 577,688. (No model.)

.To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE XV. BROWN, of Colorado Springs, in the county of El Paso and State of Colorado, have invented a new and Improved Picture-Exhibitor, of which the followingis a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in that class of devices which are employed for exhibiting pictures and the like, and has for its object to provide a device of this character of a simple and inexpensive nature, which shall be strong and durable and adapted for use in connection with a phonograph instrument or the like in such a way that the parts whereon the pictures are mounted may be moved so as to cause the pictures to pass successively across a sight-opening by the movement of the motor of the phonograph.

The invention consists in a device of this character comprising a casing adapted to be used in connection with a phonograph, movable pictnrecarrying parts arranged one in advance of the other in said casing and provided with pictures adapted to pass in succession across a sightopening, means for illuminating the pictures, gearing for driving either of said parts from the motor of the phonograph, and means for controlling the movement of the parts whereby either of the parts may be driven while the other part is held stationary.

The invention also contemplates certain novel features in the construction, combination, and arrangement of the various parts of the improved picture-exhibitor whereby certain important advantages are attained and the device is made simpler, cheaper, and otherwise better adapted and more convenient for use than various other similar devices heretofore employed, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

The novel features of the invention will be carefully defined in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both views.

Figure 1 is a vertical section taken through the casing of the improved picture-exhibitor in the plane indicated by the line a a in Fig. 2; and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device as shown in Fig. 1, the top or cover plate of the casing being removed.

In the views, 1 indicates the casing, herein shown as rectangular in form and having a flat top or cover plate 2, having an opening at one side adapted to receive the casing of a phonograph, as shown at 3 in Figs. 1 and 2. At the center of the top or cover plate 2 of the casing a bracket or bearing-piece 4 is located at the upper side thereof, being provided at one side with a horizontally-extending bearing 5, wherein is mounted to turn one end of a horizontal shaft 6, the opposite end of which is carried in a bracket or hearing piece 7.

On the shaft 6 is mounted a pulley 8, over which passes a strap or belt 9, extending down from the casing 3 of the phonograph and connected to the motor therein in such a way that when the motor of the phonograph is operated the said shaft 6 is rotated. On the shaft 6 is also mounted a bevel-pinion 9, meshing with a bevel gear-whcel 10, secured on a vertical shaft 11, the upper end of which is mounted to turn in the bearing on the under side of the bracket or bearing-piece 4., while the lower end of said shaft is carried in a step 12, alined with the bracket 4 and lo cated on the bottom of the casing 1.

On the vertical shaft 11 are carried disks 13 and 14, turning in horizontal planes,the disk 13 beinglocated above the disk 14, and said disks 13 and 14 are provided with hubs or bosses 15 and 16 at their centers, which are mounted somewhat loosely on the shaft 11, being sufficiently tight to be driven normally from said shaft, but being capable of slipping on the shaft when resistance is applied to the disks to impede their movement. The upper surface of each of the disks 13 and 14 is provided around its outer edge with an annular series of pictures 17 and 18, respectively, and in the corners of the casing 1 are arranged lamps 1 9, adapted to illu minate these pictures.

Adjacent to each lamp and immediately over the series of pictures 17 and 18 is arranged a lens 20, mounted in a tube 21, extending through the cover or top plate 2 of the casing and having at its upper end an eyepiece 22, at which the observer may apply his eye to see the pictures on the disks 13 and 14. In this way it will be seen that when the phonograph is operated the shaft 11 will be driven therefrom, through the medium of the gearing above described, in such a way as to cause the upper disk 13 to rotate, its pic tures 17 passing beneath the several lenses 20.

At intervals the edge portion of the disk 13 is cut out, as indicated at 17*, and the pic tures 18 on the disk 14 below the disk 13 are visible at the lenses 20 through the said apertures 17 In this way it will be seen that when the upper disk 13 is held against turning the lower disk 14 is still permitted to rotate, being driven from the sh aft 11, and when the apertures 17 stand beneath the lenses 20 the pictures 18 on the lower disk 14 will be visible through said apertures at the lenses.

In order to hold the disks 13 and 14 against turning, I prefer to provide each disk with a spring-brake consisting of a spring-wire 23 or the like, secured to the outer side of the easing, these wires being located at opposite sides, as shown in the drawings, and having their upper ends bent, as shown at 24, and

passed through perforations 25 in the walls of the casing, the inner extremities of said bent ends 24 being adapted to engage the peripheries of the respective disks 13 and 14. The bent upper portions 24 of the, springwires 23 are corrugated, as clearly seen in Fig. 1, and are adapted to be engaged by locking-plates 26, secured to the sides of the casing and adapted to hold the spring-wires either in or out of engagement with the disks 13 and 14.

From the above description it will be seen that the device is of an extremely simple and inexpensive nature and is well adapted for the purposes for which it is intended, since itpermits the pictures on either of the disks 13 or 14 to be exhibited as may be desired, and it will also be obvious from the above description that the invention is susceptible of considerable modification without material departure from the principles and spirit of the invention, and for this reason I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise arrangement of the parts herein set forth.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a picture-exhibitor, the combination of a casing having an eyepiece, ashaft mounted to turn therein, means for driving the shaft, picture-carryin g parts mounted to turn in the casing and driven from the shaft, one of the parts having its pictures located above the pictures of the other part and being provided with an opening through which the pictures of the lower part are visible at theeyepiece, and means for driving either of the parts from said shaft independently of the other part, substantially as set forth.

2. In a picture-exhibitor, the combination of a casing having an eyepiece, a shaft mount= ed to turn therein and having a bevel-gear, another shaft extending at angles to the firstmentioned shaft and having a bevel gear meshing with the gear thereon, a phonograph having a motor, gearing between the motor and the last-mentioned shaft, disks held frictionally on the first-named shaft, one above the other and having pictures visible at the eyepiece, an aperture in the upper disk through which the pictures on the lower disk are visible, and means for holding one of the disks against turning, substantially as set forth.

3. In a picture-exhibitor, the combination of the casing, a shaft journaled therein and having a bevel-gear, a counter-shaft having a bevel-gear meshing with that of the first shaft, picture-carrying disks held frictionally on the said first shaft, the upper disk having an opening through which the pictures of the lower disk are visible, means whereby said disk may be held from turning, and a motor geared with the counter-shaft, all substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

GEORGE-IV. BROWN.

Witnesses:

ROBERT A. MAoK, EMMON H. DowNER. 

